Lee Cusenbary is the General Counsel at Mission Pharmacal Company in San Antonio. He is also the creator of Ethics Follies®, a musical parody that uses comedy to raise ethics issues. The fully-produced Broadway-style musical combines San Antonio's business leaders and professional actors to engage the community. It is featured each year by The Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) for their ethics conference which benefits The Community Justice Program. Lee is also a frequent writer and speaker on why "good ethics is good for business," and is a recipient of the San Antonio Business Ethics Award. In 2012, ACC renamed their ethics awards the "Lee Cusenbary Ethical Life Award" in recognition of his commitment to ethics in law and business. Learn more about how you can be part of a more ethical culture at EthicsFollies.com.

Note: This is an mySA.com City Brights Blog. These blogs are not written or edited by mySA or the San Antonio Express-News. The authors are solely responsible for the content.

Physician Betrays Patient’s Trust and Is Found Guilty of Sexual Assault

There are few times in our lives that we are more vulnerable to another person than when we trust a physician with our health issues. We tell them our most private problems and often expose both our bodies and our troubles to this licensed professional, who has taken an oath and obtained a license requiring him or her to put our health first.

In the assault case that was decided today, a well-known dermatologist, Calvin Day, Jr., was found guilty of sexual assault. In many other stories heard on the witness stand, patients and employees were sexual assaulted during examinations or after work in the bedroom Day set up at the office. The reason this is an unusual story is that physicians have trained to “first, do no harm.” Sexual assault is one of the most egregious betrayal of trust one can experience. When sexual assault is committed by a physician, the acts seem particular disturbing because we have to trust a physician in order to heal or get treatment. Abuse of that trust is one of the most unethical acts a physician can do.

We can speculate as to why a physician would betray a patient’s trust particularly when his nurses and staff knows the assault is occurring. Day took a 48-year-old female patient to a secluded room in his office complex called “the Bat Room,” which included a bed, mirrors and a stereo system. He sexually assaulted her and later threatened her to remain silent about it.

A jury of his peers will decide how many years he will spend in jail to pay for the sexual assaults and abuse of the trust given to him by patients.

The story below from MySA.com provides more information and some helpful links to information about the trial.